Following the leak of a classified slide deck by an NSA contractor this past June, the agency’s previously secretive PRISM program entered the public spotlight and inspired vigorous debate over its legality and overall implications for individual privacy.

The advent of software-as-a-service (SaaS) has changed how enterprises approach their IT operations, with many departments now regarding server infrastructure management, maintenance and vigilant security monitoring as tasks properly assigned to their cloud providers.

The adoption of mobile devices and a BYOD (Bring your own Device) policy likely means that organizations will see a rise in their level of productivity. A report from the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association found that the productivity benefit of BYOD will actually reach $11.8 million Australian dollars, or just under $11 million U.S. dollars, by 2025.

Although security is always a concern with healthcare organizations, many are taking the route of using mobile devices as part of a BYOD (Bring your own Device) plan and worrying about securing data and devices to take advantage of the benefits these systems offer.

It’s a trying time to be an IT director tasked with navigating a company’s move from corporate-liable devices to a BYOD (Bring your own Device) program. Ryan Faas of CITEworld said the recent CITE Conference and Expo had many professionals saying that BYOD could be considered more of a “people problem” than a strictly technical concern.

Businesses are always looking for ways to strengthen their data security and alleviate customer concerns. Many may figure that using a bigger company for data storage and sharing information may be the best way to go, but a recent report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation looked at major companies with cloud computing and storage services being entrusted by businesses and asked what the provider does to keep private information out of the hands of the government.

It wasn’t long ago that companies had to figure out the Wi-Fi system for their company and how they wanted to make sure everything was secure across the network. Now, businesses are dealing with mobile devices as a transformative technology and must work to figure out a BYOD (Bring your own Device) plan before it is too late

Dealing with cloud computing security risks and regulations has never been easy. Davey Winder on CloudPro likened the development of cloud standards and best practices to herding cats, bordering on very difficult to impossible, as the technology does not recognize international or industrial boundaries.